I can't believe we will be celebrating William's 2nd birthday next month. Just like last year, I knew when Halloween hit that the last few months would fly by because of the holidays. I don't want him to get any bigger! Every day he picks up something new and you see "big boy" tendencies shining through. A couple days ago I watched him take some crackers from the counter still in their packaging (not unusual at all for him), eat the two crackers from the baggie THEN - wait for it - take the empty baggie and open the trash can and throw it away. What?! No prompting whatsoever. It is also so much fun to be able to communicate with him. He follows instruction most of the time very well. "Go get your new yellow truck from the playroom." And off he goes to the playroom and comes back with the right toy. He's combining more and more words together:
- "Dada work" translation: Dad is at work
- "My blanket" translation: No you can't borrow my favorite green blanket. Give it back.
- "Car keys" translation: May I have the keys to the car and then go sit in the car?
- "Tv Peter" translation: Please turn Peter Rabbit (my favorite show) on the tv.
- "Baby night night" translation: Is Grace sleeping?
We are working on manners now and he has the magic word "please" down pat. I hear "Peez? Peez?" about 100 times a day. Thank you is in process and I haven't heard him say sorry yet. If he is "sorry" he usually puts his head down and makes a very sad face.
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| Green blanket must be draped over his highchair during meals |
William is always on the go. Matt and I were laughing that even when he's sitting "still" he really isn't sitting still. He will kick his foot, clap his hands, lean on the ottoman, absentmindedly pick up a toy all while he's as still as can be for William. He still tells himself to "Go! Go! Go!" when he runs around the playground or the house or anywhere else in general. We had a bounce house at the house the other day for a party and he jumped in the bounce house for a solid hour. He took a break twice for hydration and yelled for me to bring him "acuppa" which is "water". That is a word we need to fix actually. I figured out that when I would ask him "do you want a cup of water?" that he heard "a-cup-of" and associates that with water/milk/drink. When he sees water (like rain or the ocean) he will say "acuppa". We think it's really cute and ask him if he wants "a accupa?", but that should probably stop :)
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| On the go at the Science Center - digging for dinosaur bones |
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| Bouncing even after friends left |
A new habit is hugging. I am wondering if he picked it up at school. When we were in Virginia for Thanksgiving he would awkwardly stand next to his 2nd cousin Olivia staring at her then all a sudden grab her for a hug. He hugged two random boys at Breakfast with Santa this past weekend too! Never met them, but he hugged them.
William is still the best sleeper around. He can stay up later if need be, which is nice. No meltdown because he HAS to be asleep by 7:30p. He's flexible. Put him in his bed WITH green blanket and he will fall asleep whenever it suits him. In the morning I have to check on him because he barely makes any loud noises to let me know he's awake. He plays with his stuffed animals and talks to himself. Green blanket is still a necessity and he's now able to distinguish original green blanket from backup green blanket. He won't go to bed without the original green blanket and don't ask me how he can tell the difference because I can barely tell the difference without actually touching them (one is a tinge softer from the other because original is obviously more worn). He can tell from 5 ft. away though! Amazing. But it's still his lovey and he still sucks his thumb when he's tired or cranky.
He has been awesome with little sister Grace. He still calls her "baby" and yet again, I think it's cute and I don't try so hard in teaching him "Grace". We will start working on it though :) He's been hugging her a lot lately (we need to remind him to be gentle because he will squeeze tight!) and every single morning that first thing he asks about is "Baby? Baby go? Baby night night?" He's asking where is the baby and he will run into her room as soon as he's dressed for the day. He climbs up her crib and peeks in then usually wants me to push him in so he can play with her toys. Tonight before he went up to bed he asked me for "baby" and so I lowered her thinking he wanted to pretend hold her like usual. Instead he kissed her on the cheek, said "byeee!" and ran off with Matt. It was ADORABLE!
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| Good thing Grace is one tough lady! She never gets upset when he's grabbing her. |
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| Grace and William before baby Secret Santa party |
William LOVES cars, trucks, keys to cars and trucks, choo-choo (trains), balls, books and Peter Rabbit. Those are the items I hear the most about during the day. Matt has an old Chevy truck in our garage and every day we go sit in the truck with the car keys and he pretends to drive the truck. I don't know how many balls he has in the house, but none of them go to waste. Each and every one gets thrown or kicked each and every day. When we drive into Winter Park for errands he recognizes the area as the place where the Amtrak train comes through and he will yell "choo-choo! choo-choo!" I'm amazed that he recognizes locations from the backseat of the car. He's all boy, that's for sure.
I could go on and on about William. He's the sweetest boy. I always get hugs and kisses from him. He loves to hold my hand and really isn't comfortable leaving our side even inside our own house. He will get distracted by a ball and will run off chasing it without one of us though. His mantra is "Dada, mama, baby. Dada, mama, baby." I like to think it's because those are his three favorite things :) Don't keep growing up on me though. Stay little forever :)
